Operating a Backstrap Loom
with
Laverne Waddington

The ancient craft of backstrap weaving is still practiced by many indigenous weavers
across the world today. The loom, which comprises nothing more than a set of simple sticks,
allows weavers to produce anything from firm, narrow bands to wide, flowing lengths of cloth.
Sticks and string spring to life and become a loom the moment the weavers place the backstraps
around their hips.

Available formats:

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This video is for all those who have ever been curious about how these wonderfully simple
pieces of equipment work. It reveals the secrets behind the smooth and fluid operation of the
loom. You will discover how weavers use their bodies as a moving part of the loom itself.

use a variety of methods to open sheds and smoothly operate backstrap looms with
both narrow and wider warps.

make two kinds of continuous string heddles with tips on how to avoid the most
common mistakes.

build the skills for creating even selvedges.

easily fix heddle errors.

Average rating:

(based on 10 ratings)

Customer reviews:

The contents of Operating a Backstrap Loom are very interesting. Laverne Waddington's explanations are very clear, the camera work is excellent quality. I was just disconcerted by the fact that Laverne Waddington doesn't show how to set up the loom. I know she explains warping on her blog, but I would have been interested in seeing how to install the loom. Neither does she explain how to end weaving, or finishing. She doesn't address the choice of sticks and dowels for making a loom either, although she does give some advice punctually. So, all the issues she addresses are very well explained, but not all aspects of weaving on a backstrap loom are addressed. The other small problem is obvious lack of synchronisation between images and speech. It's not a real problem because we can still follow her explanations easily, and see what she's explaining, but it would be nice if that technical problem was corrected.

By
Jsl
on
Jul 26 2018 15:03 PM

Laverne, the video is amazing. There are some things I was doing right and lots I was doing wrong. Your Operating a Backstrap Loom video is helping me to be better. Being able to see the way it should work is such an immense help. The warping video answered questions I didn’t even know I had. Thank you for this and everything you do for backstrap weaving.